


Messes and All

by crashboxhasmywholeheart



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Bonding, Brother-Sister Relationships, Darla Dudley Is a Precious Child, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Good Sibling Billy Batson, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Mentioned Rosa and Victor, Panic Attacks, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21996604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crashboxhasmywholeheart/pseuds/crashboxhasmywholeheart
Summary: Billy is babysitting Darla when a spill takes place. This snowballs into a situation that Billy feels is way over his head, but thanks to his siblings everything turns out okay.
Relationships: Billy Batson & Darla Dudley, Billy Batson & Mary Bromfield
Comments: 13
Kudos: 97





	Messes and All

Billy was slumped in his desk chair when he heard it: three quiet little knocks; knocks that could only be made by tiny little knuckles. He spun himself around to see two black poof balls of curly hair peeking around his door frame. 

“Come in, Darla.”

Billy was immediately worried by the way she came creeping into the room. Usually, once she’d gotten the go-ahead, Darla would have come bounding in, ready to throw her arms around whoever was closest. Right now, however, Darla’s chin was tilted so low her glasses were sliding down her nose and her arms hung, lifeless, by her side. 

Billy dropped Freddy’s comic to the desk and got to his feet. He met Darla halfway and dropped down to one knee. She still wouldn’t look at him, her gaze stayed stubbornly to the carpet. Billy tilted his head further down and bent his neck so that he could see Darla’s big brown eyes.

“What is it, Darla? Is everything okay? Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Billy felt his heart start to pick-up when Darla didn’t immediately answer him. He’d already been nervous about taking care of her. Victor had taken Pedro and Eugene to the arcade and Rosa was taking Freddy in for a doctor’s visit. 

Billy wasn’t much in the mood to go out that day; crime during his last few patrols had been completely bonkers. Freddy theorized that it was because spring was on the horizon and during the winter crooks were too cold to commit crimes. To be completely honest, Billy didn’t care much about the reason all he knew was that it was exhausting. Every time he turned around there’d be something or someone that Shazam had to stop. 

Therefore, when Victor had offered to bring him along he’d politely declined. Surprisingly, Darla had asked to stay home as well. Usually, she would have been dragged along with the rest of the family, but since Billy was staying home...well. Long story short, Billy was stuck watching Darla.

Don’t get Billy wrong, he loved spending time with his sister, but being responsible for her was an entirely different deal. He’d never really been left alone home with Darla or Eugene before and didn’t blame his parents for it either. If it were him then he would have never left him alone with his siblings. Yet, here they were.

Billy would never forgive himself if something happened to Darla on his watch. So far, he’d been checking in on her every hour, on the hour, but, obviously, that hadn’t been enough.

Billy took a steadying breath and pushed all of that out of his mind. He was second priority, Darla was the most important thing to him right now. He lifted his hands from his sides and placed them on his sister’s shoulders. He tried his best to let his voice go soft and he said the syllables of his next words slowly.

“Darla, whatever it is you can tell me. I—I won’t be mad. I promise. Whatever it is we’ll deal with it together.”

Finally, Darla looked up.

“You promise?” she asked.

“I promise,” Billy repeated.

He let go of Darla’s shoulder to hold out his pinky. Darla began to lift her pinky up to meet his, but then she stopped, her finger hovering a little ways away. From where it was, Billy could see curious smears and smudges of purple decorating her skin. When Darla noticed Billy starring she rushed to wrap her tiny pinky around his and pull it down.

The second they’d shaken on it, Billy went in for another attempt.

“Now would you please just tell me what’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, Darla just wrapped the rest of her fingers around Billy’s palm. He could see more purple all over the back of her hand. It was slightly faded as if someone had tried to rub it off. Questions bubbled at the base of his throat, but it seemed as if he was finally getting somewhere with Darla and he didn’t want to go messing that up. So, he kept his mouth shut and let her pull him to his feet and out of his room. 

Darla marched through the hallway until the two of them were standing at the door to her bedroom. Billy braced himself for anything: a wild wolfman, a crazed supervillain, or even worse, some kind of super mutant mega spider.

when Billy tried to open the door, his sweaty palms slid against the doorknob. He wiped them down the side of his jeans and this time when he clutched the doorknob it held firm. Billy twisted it and turned over his shoulder. Darla, who had been watching him, let her head drop to her chin. Alrighty then. 

Billy’s chest went tight and he took a deep breath before pushing open Darla’s bedroom door. His eyes scanned over the walls, the furniture, and every inch of the floor that he could see. When nothing drew his gaze, Billy’s breath went breezing out of him and he let himself lean against the wall. 

“Darla,” Billy said, striding into the room, “I really don’t see what the big deal is, I mean honestly with the way you were acting I thought—”

Billy’s sentence dropped off as he turned around the corner of Darla’s bed.

“Holey moley,” Billy said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Beside Darla’s bed, right in front of her nightstand, was a large purple stain, so dark it was almost indigo. If Billy had spread both his hands flat against the ground, they would match it in size. Its source wasn’t that hard to find. An empty bottle of nail polish held the light of the lamp and shone innocently beside the stain. 

The corners of Billy's vision went blurry, the stain being the only thing that remained clear in his vision. He could already hear the angry tone of Victor’s voice, could already see the disappointed curve of Rosa’s lips.

“Aww gosh—oh man, I’m gonna be in so much trouble,” Billy muttered. Without knowing it, his voice began to crescendo, louder and louder, as he continued. 

“Of course, the one time, the one time I’m left alone with somebody and an accident happens! _Of course!”_ Billy shouted, slamming his fist down on the bed.

Just above his shouting, Billy heard a squeak. He whipped his head back to the door, just in time to see Darla dart back, out of sight. It didn't take long for him to hear a set of sorrowful sniffles float in from the hallway.

Billy was moving in seconds, his knee knocking against the bed frame in his efforts to reach Darla. The closer he got, the clearer the sound became.

When Billy exited the room, he didn’t see her immediately. It was only when he stepped further out that he saw Darla curled up in the corner, her bright lavender tights stretched taught over her legs and her face buried deep in her knees. Her skinny arms were folded over her head and Billy could spot the way that they were trembling.

“Idiot,” he muttered to himself. 

This is why he shouldn’t have been left alone with Darla, he was no good at this babysitting thing. Billy took slow steps towards his sister, making just enough noise so that she knew he was approaching. He stopped about two feet away from her. From this close, her sniffles were even more distinct and it hurt Billy’s heart to hear the odd whimper as well.

Billy crouched down, hoping to make himself as non-threatening as possible. Darla’s position didn’t shift in the slightest. The longer Billy crouched there, the more strained Darla’s breathing became. She was getting really worked up, to the point where Billy had to do something.

“Darla,” Billy said, doing his best to soften his voice. 

Darla jumped a little at the sound of her name, but otherwise gave no indication that she’d heard him. Billy swallowed past a lump in his throat and forced himself to try again.

“Darla...you don’t have to be scared. I’m not mad or anything I swear. I’m sorry I raised my voice the way I did.”

Billy rubbed at the back of his neck.

“I guess I was kind of scared too.”

For a moment, Darla’s soft sobs stuttered and one of her eyes peeked out from the alcove of her arms. Jumping on the momentum of the movement, Billy rushed to add, “it’s perfectly okay to be scared you know. I’m scared like all the time.”

Darla’s head lifted just a little bit more. Now Billy could see both of her eyes. They seemed to shimmer, the wetness of them catching the light of the hallway light. 

“You know what helps me though?”

Darla blinked at him. 

“To know that my family is there for me. You guys make me feel safe.”

Billy felt his eyes begin to prickle at the admission, but he could unpack that later. Right now, Darla needed him to be strong. He swiped the back of his hand across his eyes and fell back to sit on his bottom. He was prepared to stay there as long as Darla needed him to.

Him talking seemed to help. Although the odd tear still slipped out of Darla’s eyes, her breathing seemed to have somewhat steadied.

“It’s no big deal, that stain in there,” Billy continued, half-turning his head to point over his shoulder. When he looked back he could have sworn that Darla had uncurled a little bit more.

“Rosa and Victor love us and a mess wouldn’t do anything to change that.”

At this point, Billy was talking to himself just as much as Darla. It was something that they both needed to hear. A little voice in the back of his mind thinks that Freddy would have been proud.

Billy was startled from his thoughts by the scratchy voice of his little sister.

“I know that,” she said, just barely loud enough to be heard.

“Okay,” Billy said. 

This was good, one less thing he had to convince her of, but..if she wasn’t scared of getting in trouble what was she still scared of?

Billy leaned down a little bit, trying to make eye contact with Darla, but as soon as their eyes found each other, her gaze skirted away. Skirted away from him. Billy’s heart sunk at the realization.

“Darla, I know I can come off as kind of mean and sometimes I’m a little stand-offish, but that has nothing to do with you. That’s my own stuff that I’m still working through. You’re the best little sister that I could have ever gotten and I’m the luckiest big brother like ever—and if helping you clean up spills is part of being a big brother, well then sign me up.”

Billy was out of breath after hurried admission. Halfway through his speech, Darla had finally looked up at him. There was something new in her eyes though, something aside from fright. It made Billy want to squirm right where he was sitting. 

“You pinky promised,” Darla said, her tone sharp in accusation.

“What?” Billy asked.

“Earlier,” Darla said, scooting forward to rest on her knees, “you pinky promised me that you wouldn’t get angry.”

One of her tiny fingers pointed straight in between Billy’s eyes, yet for all of Darla’s bravado, he could spy the way her hand was trembling. 

Billy knew what it was like, how giving in to the anger, distracted you from dealing with the fear and the uncertainty. No one liked feeling helpless. Throwing blame and accusatory fingers (no matter how right Darla was) wouldn’t help her feel better in the long run. 

Billy reached out and loosely wrapped Darla’s accusatory hand in his own. 

“I know, I know Darla. I should have kept a cooler head. And I’m sorry. I really am.”

Darla’s lips were still bent in a sharp scowl that looked so out of place on her face. However, one look up and Billy could still see her eyes swimming with unshed tears. She was still scared and although Billy had been the cause of it he was determined to make it right.

Billy thought back to all the other times he’d lashed out and how it was that Victor and Rosa would bring him back to himself. He immediately thought of Rosa’s soft touch and Victor’s confident reassurances. They both focused on making Billy feel safe and letting him know that he was not alone. That’s what Darla needed right now.

Billy let go of Darla’s hand and she tucked it back into her side. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and opened his arms wide. 

“I reacted all wrong," he said, "but if you give me another chance, I’ll make everything alright again. I promise...for real this time”

Everything remained still. All Billy could hear was Darla’s unsteady breathing and occasional sniffles. Maybe this was out of his depth. He didn’t have much experience with this whole comforting thing. He could be doing this all wrong. Maybe he should just call Victor and beg him to— 

Billy’s train of thought was cut off when he felt a weight settle in his lap. He cracked his eyes open and peered down to find Darla pressed up against him, her cheek lying right over his heart. Now that she was so close, Billy could feel the tiny shudders that still ran through her body. 

Another wave of guilt washed over him. 

Billy slowly wrapped his arms around Darla’s small body, leaving her with just enough room so that she could move away if she wanted to. In response, she snuggled even closer, tucking her head into the space between his neck and his shoulder.

This was good. He had the touch part down, now she just needed verbal reassurance.

“You’re alright Darla. Everything’s gonna be okay. Just—just breathe alright. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Billy shifted his arms a little so that his hand rested on Darla’s back and he began to rub in slow circles. Rosa had done that for him once and he remembered how _loved_ it had made him feel.

“Everything’s gonna be okay Darla. You don’t have to be afraid. I’m here. I’m right here.”

Billy continued to murmur, just about, all the comforting things that he could think up. It seemed to work too because he slowly felt Darla relax in his arms and her breathing eventually evened out. 

After a little while, Darla began to shift and Billy leaned back so that he could see her face. She finally held his gaze. A little sigh escaped Billy and some of the tension in his shoulders went away.

“Okay?” he asked.

Darla nodded her head and owlishly blinked at him from behind her glasses.

“Good,” he said.

Darla’s eyes were red from all the crying she’d done and some snot and dried and began to flake under her nose. Her glasses were speckled with tears and her lips were cracked over and dry. Billy couldn’t just sit around waiting for someone else to come home and clean Darla up. 

“Do you want to stand up now?” Billy asked.

Darla shook her head no and tucked her head back against Billy’s shoulder. He understood completely, panic attacks always left his body feeling like a wrung-out rag. 

“Well, can I carry you?” he asked.

He felt Darla nod against his shoulder.

Billy shifted his arms to get a better grip on her and then lifted Darla up into his arms. When he stood he was surprised by how light she was; she seemed even smaller somehow. 

He carried her to the bathroom, nudged the toilet lid down with his foot, and then set Darla down on top of it. She shifted a bit to sit on her hands and then stared at Billy, awaiting his next move. This snapped him into action.

Billy bent down in front of the sink and opened up the cupboard. He snatched up one of the clean cloths and wasted no time in wetting it with some warm water. Then he bent down in front of Darla and gently cupped her face in order to turn it towards him. 

Making sure not to wipe too quickly or harshly, Billy moved it over her face in slow circles, until all the dried snot and tear tracks were gone. Then he followed it with a dry cloth and handed her the bottle of lotion. As she silently applied it, Billy pondered his next steps.

What he really needed was to get a good look at that stain, but not with Darla by his side. If he was gonna have another freakout, she would not be witness to it. 

“Hey Darla, you know what always makes me feel better?” 

She peered up at him, slowly shaking her head.

“A nice, cool, glass of water,” he said drawing out the syllables.

She tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows as if to say _really Billy_?

“I’m serious,” Billy said. He put one of his hands over his heart and raised the other one into the air in a mock pledge, “I absolutely swear by it.”

Darla rolled her eyes, but the corner of her lips quirked up and all of a sudden Billy felt as if he could breathe a little better. She hopped off of the toilet and slipped her hand inside his. 

“Okay,” she said. 

Her voice was a little hoarse but it still hadn’t lost its lilt. Thank goodness. Count on Darla, to be able to bounce back so quickly. Honestly, she was like the sun; although storms came, her light would always win out in the end.

Billy brought Darla downstairs and sat her down at the kitchen table. He began to look through the cupboard, in search of her favorite cup, the pink one with the stars all over it. When he couldn’t find it, he searched the dishwasher and found it amongst all the other dirty dishes. He hurried to wash and fill it with water from the fridge. He then set it down in front of Darla and crouched down in front of her chair.

“I need to make a call real quick, but I’ll be right back. Is that okay?” Billy asked.

“Yeah,” Darla said. She opened her mouth and then closed it, chewing on her bottom lip.

Billy hovered there a little while longer; he didn’t want to push Darla, but he also didn’t want to abandon her if she had something to say. Darla went back and forth in her mind a little while longer and then abruptly turned from him to take a deep drink of her water.

“Ahhh,” she sighed. Once she put the cup down, she added, “you were right. I do feel a little better.”

“Good,” Billy said, reaching up to squeeze her two poofy pigtails, before standing back up. “Call if you need anything, anything at all, and I’ll be there.”

Darla gave him two big thumbs up and went back to her water. Billy made sure to keep his pace steady as he left the kitchen, but as soon as he was out the doorway, he began to speed walk through the rooms. Billy took the stairs two at a time and nearly clipped the corner of the wall on his way to Darla’s bedroom.

However, as soon as he reached the doorway. His pace stuttered. He really didn’t want to see that stain again, didn’t want to deal with it...at least not on his own. He really wished Mary was here, she'd somehow have the perfect solution. Wait a second...he could just call her! Billy slapped his palm to his forehead, feeling dumb for not thinking of it earlier. Mary would know what to do, she always knew what to do.

Billy fumbled to get his phone from his back pocket and sat down on the side of Darla’s bed on which he couldn’t see the stain. His fingers hurriedly tapped at the screen and it wasn’t long before he was hearing the familiar tones of the Facetime feature. 

Billy almost cried when Mary’s smiling face appeared on the screen.

“Oh, Mary, thank goodness, I was about to lose my mind!” Billy said.

“Well, hello to you too,” she said with one of her light and flighty laughs.

“Hi, sorry. I just—I’m kind of having a crisis.”

Mary’s forehead immediately creased in concern. Her gaze went resolute as she asked, “what’s wrong? Are you in danger? Where’s Rosa and Victor? What—”

“Mary,” Billy interrupted, “I’m okay, I swear! Crisis was too strong a word! I just needed your help with something.”

“Oh,” Mary said, the word coming out as more of a sigh, “thank goodness. You had me scared.”

“And me too,” said a faint voice from over Mary’s end.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

Mary tilted the phone so that Billy could see her surroundings. Mary was sitting at a table, under an umbrella, and across from her sat her roommate Leslie. Her red hair shone in the afternoon sun and an uneaten lunch sat in front of her. She and Mary were clearly in the middle of something. Billy should have thought to text first.

He was getting ready to apologize for interrupting, but Leslie beat him to speaking.

“Billy!” she said, leaning over her plate, to get closer to the phone, “I’ve missed your sweet little face.” 

Leslie had a special talent for making him blush. Billy hated the way his face must look right now. Against his will, his gaze dropped to the floor and he muttered, “hi Leslie.”

He liked Leslie, he really did. He just hated feeling embarrassed and anytime he talked to Leslie he felt like an awkward middle schooler again. 

“Oh man, I’ve gone and done it again,” Leslie said. Billy could hear the scowl in her voice as she said, “every time I talk to him this happens.”

Mary laughed again as the phone screen shifted back to her face. 

“So, what can I help you with little bro?”

Billy rubbed one of his hands over his mouth before saying, “it’s probably better if I just show you.”

“Oh dear,” Mary said, but she was still smiling and somehow Billy knew, right then, that everything was going to be okay.

He walked around the side of the bed and forced himself to keep his face steady as the stain came into view. Since when he’d first seen it, it seemed to have gotten even darker, drying and crusting a little along the edges. 

“Alright,” Billy said, hating the way his voice cracked on the word, “I’m gonna switch the camera now.” 

Billy winced at the sharp gasp that sprang from his phone. If Mary saw it fit to panic then it must be bad. The temporary emotional stability that Billy had achieved was whisked away and his skin began to prickle all over again. Holey moley, this was bad. 

“—breathe Billy.” Mary’s voice broke through his frantic thoughts. “Calm down. It’s going to be okay. Just breathe with me, you can do it.”

Billy’s breathing had gone absolutely out of control and he hadn’t even realized it. Billy sat down on Darla’s bed and he forced himself to use the breathing exercises that Victor had taught him. Deep breath in through your nose, hold...one...two...three, exhale. Let your shoulders relax, come back to yourself. He repeated the exercise three or four times, Mary murmuring encouragement all the way through.

Finally, Billy felt in control of himself again. Gosh, what was wrong with him? Every time something even remotely bad happened, he broke down like a baby. He’d scared Darla and now he'd inconvenienced Mary.

“I—I’m sorry Mary. You shouldn’t have to take all this time taking care of me. I swear I don’t mean to be like this and—” 

“Billy, stop.”

Mary’s sharp voice cut through Billy’s ramblings like a sword, effectively severing anything he was going to say.

“There’s nothing wrong with any of this. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Mary’s eyes were so sincere that Billy had a hard time meeting them. He dropped his gaze to Darla’s bedsheets and busied himself with picking off a little piece of lint.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Mary asked.

Billy couldn’t help, but frown. Mary always was good at reading him. Almost too good.

“Everyone gets scared you know; it’s part of being human. Fear isn’t a weakness, it's just an instinct to keep yourself safe. I know it’s inconvenient and frustrating sometimes, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Billy didn’t know what to say to that. He moved on from picking at lint to pulling on a loose string, at the edge of his sleeve.

“Billy, please look at me.”

No matter how embarrassing this whole thing was, he couldn’t just deny Mary’s plea. Billy forced himself to lift his eyes to her and hated how sympathetic they were. He didn’t deserve any of this.

“It’s just a spill Mary,” Billy ground out, through grit teeth, “I’m clearly overreacting.”

“Forget about how you think you’re _supposed_ to feel. Are you afraid of that spill?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Billy said, with a harsh exhale.

“If it’s scary to you, then that’s enough. Scary is scary. That’s all there is to it Billy.”

Billy knew she was right, Mary was always right. He still felt pretty guilty for losing it, but that was just something he had to work on. He blew out a breath.

“Alright, I—I believe you. For real. Thanks, Mary, you always know what to say.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Mary said, biting her bottom lip to hide her smile. She wasn’t the only one who could read people. Billy could tell she was pleased. 

“Now about this spill,” she said rushing to move past the moment, “I didn’t get too good of a look at it, but it looked kind of like nail polish. Is that right?”

“Yeah, it is, actually.” 

“Perfect,” Mary said, a bright smile reigning over her face, “there’s this one article online, which worked for me like almost every time. I’ll text it to you and it should take care of the worst of it.”

Billy fell back on to Darla’s bed, his legs dangling far off of its sides. 

“I knew you’d have a solution. You’re amazing Mary.”

“Yeah well—what else are big sisters for?” she said, with a shrug.

“Awwww,” a voice from over Mary’s end said, reminding Billy that she had company. 

“Well,” Billy said, “I’m okay now, thanks to you. I’m gonna go ahead and work on cleaning this as much as I can before Victor or Rosa comes home.”

“Good,” Mary said, “oh and Billy—don’t be afraid to tell mom and dad. They’ve had six kids in their house before, they know a thing or two about messes.”

“Read you loud and clear,” Billy said, with an exaggerated salute.

Mary rolled her eyes, but she was smiling so it lessened its effect. 

“Alright. I love you, Billy.”

“I love you too, Mary. Bye and enjoy lunch.”

He hung up the phone and then everything was quiet. Mary was the best big sister ever. She always managed to have his back even when she was on the other side of the United States.

Less than five minutes later, his phone dinged with a text. Billy opened the article Mary had sent him on nail polish stain removal and skimmed through it. Thankfully it was pretty simple and he was pretty sure that the ingredients he needed were in the house. 

Billy went to the bathroom and crouched down in front of the sink. Opening the cabinet, he began collecting supplies. The nail polish remover was at the very back and he had to reach deep into its depths to retrieve it. He had just caught ahold of it when a tap on his shoulder startled him. 

Billy’s shoulders slammed into the roof of the cabinet and he hurried to extract himself from it. Darla stood behind him, a sheepish look on her face. She had apparently finished her water. 

“Darla! Sorry about that, you just surprised me. How’re you feeling now?” Billy asked her. 

“I’m feeling much better...thanks to you.”

Darla pushed her glasses up and continued, “I—I heard you talking to Mary and—and I want to help you clean the spill.”

“Oh, um— yeah! Of course, you can help!”

For the first time over the past hour, one of Darla’s signature smiles beamed at him. The sun, his mind reminded him. 

* * *

About a half an hour later, Billy looked up from the carpet to seek out Darla’s gaze. 

“So, what do you think?”

Darla pushed up the sleeves of her sweater and bent over the carpet to inspect the area. When she raised her head again, another radiant smile had settled over her face.

“I can barely even tell it was there! You made it disappear like magic!” Darla exclaimed. On the last word, she threw her arms wide and nearly whacked Billy in the face, but he managed to move out of the way in time. 

Billy leaned back against Darla’s bed; his back was aching from how long he’d spent bent over that stain. Darla didn’t hesitate to crawl over and settle against him. 

Without the stress of the stain looming over his head, Billy felt ten times better, but there was still something nagging at him.

“Hey, Darla?”

Darla lifted her head from his shoulder to peer up at him. She hummed, encouraging him to go on.

“Why did you try and do your nails on your own? You could have asked Rosa or me or literally anyone for help.”

“You can paint nails?” Darla asked.

“Don’t avoid the question.”

Darla gave a big sigh and then said, “Mary used to do my nails for me, but now that she’s at college, there’s been no one to do it. I—I didn’t want to ask ‘cause everyone’s so busy with their own stuff, so I tried to do it and yeah…”

“Darla, you don’t ever have to be afraid of asking.” 

Billy nudged her shoulder with his and added, “that’s something that I’m working on too you know? Maybe we could work on it together.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “for sure.”

“You’re the best Billy,” Darla said, before laying her head against his shoulder again. 

“Not on my own,” Billy said, “but with you guys, I’m the best version of myself I can be.”

* * *

When Victor came home, Billy immediately told him everything that had happened. Victor took the news just like he took everything else, calmly and confidently. He commended Billy for taking control of the situation and gave Darla a firm scolding which she took with an enviable level of maturity. 

Rosa was quick to follow and after being filled in on the situation, she lifted Billy’s bangs to give him a kiss on his forehead. She followed that with a light scolding for Darla, as well, but concluded it with a hug and a promise to paint her nails the next day.

When Freddy had heard about the incident, he gave Billy a strong clap on his back and told him that, ‘making messes was a rite of passage for the Vasquez family'. The two then settled on the couch as Freddy then launched into some convoluted story about how Mary had managed to clog the bathroom sink her first week here. 

Everything went on as normal in the house. Billy was still somewhat shocked that the spill hadn’t ended in an imminent disaster, but at the same time, he wasn’t surprised at all. It seemed as if the Vasquez family would have him any way that he was. They wanted each other messes and all and that was the kind of family he was grateful to be apart of. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my fic! If you so please, consider leaving a kudos, constructive criticism, or a comment; I'd love to hear what you have to say! Wherever you are, I hope you have a great day! Until next time, lovelies <3


End file.
